EBONY (Gr. E(3evos)  , the wood of various species of trees of the genus Diospyros (natural order Ebenaceae), widely distributed in the tropical parts of the world . The best kinds are very heavy, are of a deep black, and consist of heart-wood only . On account of its colour, durability, hardness and susceptibility of polish, ebony is much used for cabinet work and inlaying, and for the manufacture of pianoforte-keys, knife-handles and turned articles . The best Indian and Ceylon ebony is furnished by D . Ebenum, a native of southern India and Ceylon, which grows in great abundance throughout the flat country west of Trincomalee . The tree is distinguished from others by the inferior width of its trunk, and its jet-black, charred-looking'bark, beneath which the wood is perfectly white tintil the heart is reached . The wood is stated to excel that obtained from D. reticulata of the Mauritius and all other varieties of ebony in the fineness and intensity of its dark colour . Although the centre of the tree alone is employed, reduced logs r to 3 ft. in diameter can readily be procured . Much of the East Indian ebony is yielded by the species D . Melanoxylon (Coromandel ebony), a large tree attaining a height of 6o to 8o ft., and 8 to to ft. in circumference, with irregular rigid branches, and oblong or oblong-lanceolate leaves . The bark of the tree is astringent, and mixed with pepper is used in dysentery by the datives of India . The wood of D. tomentosa, a native of north Bengal, is black, hard and of great weight .

D.

montana, another Indian species, produces a yellowish-grey soft but durable wood . D. quaesita is the tree from which is obtained the wood known in Ceylon by the name Calamander, derived by Pridham from the Sinhalee kalumindrie, black-flowing . Its closeness of grain, great hardness and fine hazel-brown colour, mottled and striped with black, render it a valuable material for veneering and furniture making . D . Dendo, a native of Angola, is a valuable timber tree, 25 to 35 ft. high, with a trunk 1 to 2 ft. in diameter . The heart-wood is very black and hard and is known as black ebony, also as billet-wood, and Gabun, Lagos, Calabar or Niger ebony . What is termed Jamaica or West Indian ebony, and also the green ebony of commerce, are produced by Brya Ebenus, a leguminous tree or shrub, having a trunk rarely more than 4 in. in diameter, flexible spiny branches, and orange-yellow, sweet-scented flowers . The heart-wood is rich dark brown in colour, heavier than water, exceedingly hard and capable of receiving a high polish . From the' book of Ezekiel (xxvii . 15) we learn that ebony was among the articles of merchandise brought to Tyre; and Herodotus states (iii . 97) that the Ethiopians every three years sent a tribute of 200 logs of it to Persia . Ebony was known to Virgil as a product of India (Georg. ii .

116), and was displayed by

Pompey the Great in his Mithradatic triumph at Rome . By the ancients it was esteemed of equal value for durability with the cypress and cedar (see Pliny, Nat . Hist. xii . 9, xvi . 79) . According to Solinus (Polyhisior, cap. lv. p: 353, Paris, 1621), it was employed by the kings of India for sceptres and images, also, on account of its supposed antagonism to poison, for drinking-cups . The hardness and black colour of the wood appear to have given rise to the tradition related by Pausanias, and alluded to by Southey in Thalaba, i . 22, that the ebony tree produced neither leaves nor fruit, and was never seen exposed to the sun .